Peabody Energy Corp., the largest U.S. coal producer, plans to fire about 250 workers in the coming months and close offices in Indiana and Wyoming amid falling demand and prices for the fossil fuel.
The company’s Colorado operations centered on the Foidel Creek Mine in Routt County will see “no impacts,” Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said in an e-mail.
The moves are expected to save the company $40 million to $45 million annually, St. Louis-based Peabody said Monday in a statement.
The job cuts represent about a quarter of Peabody’s corporate and regional support positions. Peabody is also reviewing its shifts, scheduling and mine planning in Australia to determine how much coal it should produce there, the company said.
Although Colorado does not figure into the announcement Monday, employment at Foidel Creek was down to 301 miners in April from 360 in June 2014, according to state mining data.
Foidel production was 1.5 million tons in the first quarter of 2015, less than half the amount of coal mined in the first quarter of 2014, according to the state data.
Peabody and other producers are struggling amid the industry’s worst downturn in decades as low-cost natural gas competes with thermal coal used by power plants, while several countries adopt tougher emissions standards.
The metallurgical coal used in steelmaking is selling at a seven-year low amid slowing demand from China.
Peabody fell to an all-time low of $3.05 a share last week. It closed down 4.4 percent at $3.06.
